


The Desert Child and the Trooper

by Stormfet



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: AU, F/F, could have been, just a little something for a little someone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-20
Updated: 2016-04-20
Packaged: 2018-06-03 08:36:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6604153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stormfet/pseuds/Stormfet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set in the time while Rey is still being held in the First Order Starkiller Base after Kylo Ren has left. Someone comes knocking.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Desert Child and the Trooper

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little something. My schedule's been rather busy, so it's been ages since I've updated, but hopefully once finals are done I will have time to write again.

Rey strained at her bonds, tight metal clasps binding her arms to her sides and her legs together, clamping down on her shoulders and her wrists, a tight pain. She bucked her hips out, straining. Nothing. The metal bonds held tight.

Her hair was becoming loose, strands drifting in front of her face, tickling her nose. She breathed quickly out of her mouth, blowing them back to her forehead, where they stuck to sweat. She tried to knock them off by jerking her head quickly, first to the right, then to the left. They remained fast. 

Rey took a deep breath, her lungs expanding against the metal bonds against her chest, almost hurting, and let out a sharp “HEY!” She couldn’t see the trooper by the door, but she knew he was there. “HEY!” she yelled again, straining against her bonds.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” said a voice from behind. Rey froze. This voice wasn’t the dull male voice of a trooper, and it certainly wasn’t the dark, cold voice of Kylo Ren. This was a lighter, softer voice. 

A trooper emerged from the shadows, suit all in metal plate. Rey’s eyebrows pulled in. She didn’t trust anyone or anything in a trooper suit. This trooper was just another puppet of the First Order. She strained even more against her bonds.

“Those are a high grade platinum alloy, desert child. They won’t be coming undone anytime soon,” said the trooper in that soft voice again.

Rey slammed back against the metal chair she was propped against in a huff, her hair briefly becoming unstuck from her sweaty forehead, giving her a moment’s ease before sticking again, uncomfortably. The metal band pinched at her wrist. 

“That’s better,” said the trooper. He holstered his gun, reaching out with a leather glove and reaching out to Rey’s face. Rey flinched away, but the trooper, rather than reach to her eyes or her nose or some other sensitive part of her face to cause more pain simply brushed the annoying loose hairs out of her eyes. “Now I can see your face.”

Rey looked down and away, grateful but not wanting to show it. 

The trooper paced around the room, silver helmet never leaving Rey. She watched him until he went behind her chair, and she whipped her head around to watch him emerge. The snapping of her head against the metal chair hurt on her cheek, but she left her muscles neutral. She didn’t want the trooper seeing weakness. Rey at this point had deduced -- metal suit, fancy suit, probably meant this trooper was important. Best to keep her mouth shut and wait until he went away. She had employed this tactic a number of times when she was younger on Jakuu.

The trooper continued to pace around the chamber. As Rey watched him pace, she was almost lulled into a sense of security. The trooper would walk around, Rey’s head turning to follow them, and then the trooper would disappear behind Rey’s back, Rey would whip her head around and the trooper would reappear in front of her, the whole cycle to continue.

Rey took a deep breath. “You will undo these bonds and leave the room,” she said in a calm voice, channeling the force.

“Desert child,” the trooper said. “Force mind tricks only work on those weak of mind.”

Rey stood silent, and repeated, “You will undo these bonds and leave the room,” she said again, attempting to channel the force even harder. The effort left her exhausted, and she collapsed against the chair.

The trooper approached her, withdrawing something from his pocket. Rey flinched back again, but the trooper simply patted away the sweat beading along Rey’s neck and forehead, inserting the kerchief back in his pocket.

“Why are you doing this?” Rey asked, finally breaking the silence.

“Desert child,” said the trooper. “Because I see myself in you.”

Rey looked blankly at the trooper. Of all the things she imagined the trooper would say, this was not one of them.

The trooper sighed audibly, and then reached up. Rey watched, silent and still as the trooper removed his helmet. His face was blocked for a moment, and then Rey’s eyebrows shot up. That was the only emotion she displayed.

In front of her was a trooper. Her blonde hair was close cropped, like any other trooper. Her cheekbones were high, her face pale and strong, her jaw sharp. Her blue eyes held her like steel against the chair, better than the platinum-whatever bonds. Rey’s heartbeat increased ever so slightly.

The trooper removed her gloves, revealing long, slender, strong fingers, calloused. Just like Rey’s. The trooper came up to Rey, staring straight into her face, blue eyes meeting brown.

“I remember when I was like you,” the trooper said, her voice no longer distorted by the helmet. It was high and clear, a speaker’s voice. “So much potential, but no idea what to do with it.” 

Rey remained silent as the trooper watched her. Unlike Ren, Rey didn’t feel violated by this stare, meeting her eyes, looking somehow deeper. Not unlike Maz. Staring straight into her soul.

“Perhaps we are two ends of the same sword. One end is me. This is how you could end up, desert child. Like me. Shaped and sharpened by the wrong smith. They found me young, took me in. I barely have anything left anymore that’s me.

“Don’t end up like me, desert child. You could do so much more. Don’t be like me.”

Rey stared back at this trooper. “Who are you?”

“Here they call me Captain Phasma,” she said, her mouth going tight. Her eyes unfocused, lost in an almost forgotten memory. “But in another lifetime, my name was Kira.”

Rey looked up at her, her eyebrows knitting together out of curiosity.

“Desert child,” Kira said, standing up again. “You make me forget my ties. Nobody has done that in a long time.”

Rey looked up at Kira, eyes meeting one more time. She pulled her lips tighter, suddenly dry. 

Kira suddenly leaned in again. “For the could have been,” she said, gently leaning forward, her lips meeting Rey’s, soft, warm. Unexpected. Rey thought they would be cold. She returned the kiss, straining against her bonds. Kira’s hand, calloused but soft, wove into her fingers laced to her side. 

And then it was over. Kira stepped back, looking down. She placed her helmet over her head. And turned to go.

“I won’t forget you,” Rey said as she stepped away.

Captain Phasma looked back for just a moment, Rey knowing her eyes meeting Rey’s behind the helmet. And then she left.


End file.
